Objectives and Activities:

Although the Government, through the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), has already recognized some ancestral domain claims in Northern Mindanao, the boundaries of these domains have not been properly identified and mapped. This situation has caused extreme frustration within the communities whose claims were considered, while other communities saw their ancestral domain claim applications either rejected or ignored for nearly a decade.

The overall goal of this ECP project is to bring about full recognition of the rights of indigenous communities over their ancestral domains. The project will support the initiatives of nine indigenous peoples' organizations in the Caraga region of Northern Mindanao, which are negotiating for the legal recognition of ancestral domain claims or seeking to defend, secure or reoccupy their ancestral domains. The three-year project covering approximately 100 000 ha of ancestral domains will have three components: (i) participatory community mapping; (ii) ancestral domains management planning; and (iii) capacity-building.

PAFID will be responsible for the implementation of the project, which is complementary to three IFAD projects in the Philippines, namely the Cordillera Highland Agricultural Resource Management Project, the Western Mindanao Community Initiative Project, and the newly approved Northern Mindanao Community Initiatives, and Resource Management Project (NMCIREMP). Indeed, it is expected that the methodology to be adopted in the ECP project will be replicated in NMCIREMP by other agencies and NGOs. To this effect, provisions have been made in NMCIREMP to train other partner institutions in the use of this methodology.

Established following a conference organized in the mid-1960s by the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), PAFID works exclusively with indigenous communities and focuses chiefly on security of tenure over ancestral lands and waters. It's objectives are to: (i) make appropriate and innovative technical assistance available to indigenous communities; (ii) promote holistic community development that is culturally sensitive and ecologically sound; and (iii) advocate in public and private institutions for policies and programmes that benefit and respect indigenous communities. Over 40% of PAFID staff are themselves members of indigenous communities, and several are second- or third-generation descendants of community partners and advocates who lobbied for ancestral land claims, and won.